Method of cotton stapling



v Sept. 20, 1927.

E. E. CHANDLER METHOD OF COTTON STAPLING Filed May '7, 1925 IN VEN TOR.

Patented. Sept. 20, 1927.

STATES ELBERT E. CHANDLER, OF LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA.

- METHOD OF COTTON .srnrtme.

Application filed May 7,

My invention relates particularly to cotton fibers, although it may well be applied to other fibers or bodies of varying lengths. Esti ma tion of the length of cotton fiber is called stapling. Since the lengths of the' fibers of any particular sample of cotton vary greatly, the art of stapling is rather diflicult. to acquire and considerable diiferences ofopinions ,occur among experts as to in the proper length to assign to any sample.

Thestapler takes a bunch of cotton in his two hands. and pulls it into two portions.

He discards one and from the other with his free hand he drawsand laps successive pulls 12 of fiber, by grasping the projecting ends be tween his thumb and tore finger. These pulls are laid over each other as evenly as possible and the process repeated. Projecting fibers arethen drawn from the bundle 1e andv discarded. The ,bundle then assumes more or less the shape of a rectangular parallelogram. It then laid on some surface and its length estimated. The stapler may also draw a line .across each end and measure -23 between the lines with a rule. He may even gain a pretty good idea of the length of the cotton when he pulls the first bunch into two parts, by noting the resistance to its being drawn apart. The more, the bundle -is evened up the shorter it becomes as the longer fibers naturally project and are rejected. It is difficult to determine where to draw the lines between which to measure. -,The length assigned in this process is frequently called the body length and is known to be considerably above the average length of the fiber.

' This method is suitable to commercial operations, because of its rapidity, but greateraccuracy is desirable for spinning and standardization purposes. and cultural conditions as well as to variety of the plant, cotton differs greatly in staple value not only in the baleybut also in the boll and even on the seed.- Cotton of apparently the same body length may dili'er very much in average length as the device known as the Baer sorter readily shows. Because of physical and psycological differences estimates by diflerent staplers often difier by one eighth of an inch although careful work .may reduce the error to one sixteenth of an inch. Since large premiums are paid'for extra lengths and in order to standardize the cotton standards as well as Due to climatic 1925. serial No. 28,696.

the .standardizers, the present method was developed. I I

I This method consists of cutting a certain length. from the middle portion of one or more bundles, tufts or pulls of cotton, com

bining the ends into one mass and the middles into another and determining the ratio of theends to the middle by weight.

The device for doing the cutting is illustrated in. Figures 1 and 2. It consists of a straight edge 1 of Figure 1, hinged atone end to the block 2 and clampable at the other to the block by means of the wing nut 3 and bolt attached to the block. The straight edge is slotted so that the bolt can be swung outon a slight loosening-of the nut. A zinc or brass plate 4 is'placed between the edge and the block and the cotton bundles 5 are The edge shown has two slots 6 in which to clamped between the edge and the plate. 7

runthe wall paper cutter igure 2 and the used.

The accuracy of the method depends on straightening out the. fibers and removing motes and tangles from the bundles. This may be partly done by hand in the ordinary way, but it has been foundbetter to comb the "bundles through a stationary comb, in order to more completely remove them and to insure a greater parallelism of fiber. The bundles may also be wet in alcohol and rinsed in water. They are then manipulated between the fingers and become greatly condensed and elongated. When dry they retract, but remain more even and give slightly greater accuracy to the process.

It is evident that this ratio of ends to middle is a certain function of the length of the cotton. The longer the cotton the greater theweight of the ends, the middle being constant in length. It is unnecessary howthe same from end to end, then it would be for the av Tage length of the fiber, however much the dill'erent .libers might d'illier in cross section. It has been t'ound however that cotton tiber has thicker walls and is stronger in the middle than at the ends and presumably it has greater weight per given length at this position. The tip end runs to a point and therefore has less cross seetion than the seed end. llowever there is an even possibility of the ends being evenly distributed in the bundle so this factor cancels out.

It the cross section of each tiber were the same from end to end a true average length could be "found by the following formula. Let L be this length and ill the length of the n'iiddle portion cut out. li lll would then be the length of the ends end ll the ratio by Weight would equal L M divided by M. TllOl'LtliOl'G ll ilfll lt) assuinhn; the same density for cellulose in all tibers. Because of the gmater thickness of the middle the length found by this ii'oruiula is something less than the true average length of the liber. \Vhen the middle portion is made one centimeter, then this formula becomes simply L::l+ll.

l-Iowever no such :lactor as an average length now recognized in the trade so work has been done to relate it to the trade lengths. The ratios by weight ol? the original staple standards preserved by the lfnited States Government were carefully deter mined. The middle portion was three eights of an inch. The ratios were plotted against. the called lengths and the equation of the resulting line determined. These body or trade lengths ran all the Way from three quarters of an inch to one and three quarters 01" an inch, in the main by sixteenth inch jumps. The curve was practically a straight line, showing the excellence of the Work done on the original standards. Substituting the length of the middle in this curve the equation for relating ratios to body lengths became substantially li:."l'l-li+.2, Where L is now the body length.

This process requires but a simple clipping device and a delicate balance. By it the inexpert may surpass the expert in accuracy. The pulls do not require great care in evening up, provided both ends of substantially all libers are out at their middle portion. tlumidity however before cutting has some etlect on the result as it does also in hand stapling.

llaving thus de:-;cribed my invention, what ll desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. method of stapling cotton or other llhers ol? yarious lengths, consisting of cutting a lined length, :i'rom suljistantially all of the lilzers at or near their middle portion and determining the ratio by Weight of the ends to the middle.

2. it method ot determining the apparent average length oi a number of l'ibers o't varyinn lengths, consisting of cutting a fixed lengih l'roni substantially all of the fibers at or near their middle portion, determining the ratio by weight oil the ends to the middle and using this ratio in calculating their average length.

.23. it method of determining the body or trade length of a number of tibers o't varyiug lengths, consisting of cutting a fixed length from substantially all of the fibers at or near their middle portion, detern'iining the ratio by weight of the ends to the middle portion and the use of this ratio in calculating the trade or body length.

ELBERT l CHANDLER. 

